Who lives in Cairns?

Cairns is a welcoming, multicultural city

More than 21 per cent of the Cairns population was born overseas, and 9 per cent of people in Cairns identify as  Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

Cairns people who were not born in Australia are most likely to have come to Cairns from:

• New Zealand, Japan, Papua New Guinea, United Kingdom, Philippines, India, Germany, South Korea, China and South Africa.

You can find out more about Cairns' First Peoples or Connecting with Multicultural Communities on Cairns Regional Council's website.

Cairns has a young population

We are a young city with a median age of 37. Young couples with children making up a quarter of our population.

• Cairns, compared to Australia at the last census, shows that there was a higher proportion of people in the younger age groups (0 to 17 years) and a lower proportion of people in the older age groups (60+ years)
• Overall, 24.5% of the population was aged between 0 and 17, and 18.3% were aged 60 years and over, compared with 22.3% and 21.3% respectively for Australia
• Our largest growing population sectors in recent years include young workers, older workers and 'empty nesters'.

Cairns people are well-educated

We are well educated with 48.5% of residents over 15 years of age qualified to certificate level or above, (compared to the Queensland average of 45.4%)

• 16.2% qualified to Bachelor or Higher degree
• 9.2% qualified to Advance Diploma or Diploma
• 23% qualified with trade certification

In Cairns, we have plenty of room to move and breathe.

We have a population of more than 166,000 people, and growing. In Cairns, we have lots of space to explore, move and breathe. Population density numbers tell this story well:

• 1 person a hectare in Cairns
• 5 people per hectare Greater Melbourne
• 4+ in Sydney and Adelaide
• 3+ in Perth
• 1.5 per hectare in Greater Brisbane and South East Queensland.